The Panda Hero
by theCandyQueen1888
Summary: The Panda Hero was not stupid enough to believe she was chosen for something or anything so cliche. However, she did understand what she was able to do, and so chose herself to do the right thing. -Based off the song by Hatchi. Constructive criticism welcome!
1. Chapter 1

_ Long AN: Hello! This is TheFourthAlice, and I'm starting the Panda Hero Story! Of course, there are other ones on fanfiction- but I had too XD. I didn't read any of them so that this one can remain as original as possible, but after I finish this one, I definitely will! Please let me know if you think this is very close/too close to one, because I will address your concern accordingly and possibly even delete the story if it runs deep enough, depending on what happens. With luck, however, it won't come to that! Anyways, this is most definitely going to be bumped up to being rated M, because it mentions drugs and will most probably include a lot of other unsavory things. However, it's not going to be sexually explicit. DON'T DO DRUGS, KIDS! I'll make Gumi come after you with a baseball bat!_  
_ Anyways, most obviously, this is based off of the song Panda Hero by Hatchi. I am not Hatchi, I do not own the song, and seeing as I'm not exactly rolling in money, I don't work for Crypton or own the Vocaloids. Constructive criticism is welcome. And if you absolutely hate it, go ahead and tell me what you don't like about it! Any feedback is welcome. Also, this is my first multiple-chapter fic, so sorry if I have trouble updating (I have school in 21 days, too, so that's going to get in the way of me updating). Most of the chapters are going to be longer than this and use less of the song lyrics at a time. This is just the introduction, so it's awkward but necessary to squeeze in here. From here on out it will all be in Gumi's eyes, no more switching awkwardly (at least, I don't think XD)._  
_ Finally, if someone could advise what to do about the rating, that would be fantastic. I don't want to get in trouble. ^.^_  
_ Enough with the Author's Note! Onto the story!_

_Pipes mixed with scrap, rusted wheels,_

_Crazy in its own ways, a picturesque town_

The city of Poppinine was quiet that evening. It was fast-approaching sunset on a Sunday, and the last of the children that were outside to cause trouble and play street games were running home as the streetlamps started to flicker on.

One look at Poppinine revealed much about the city. Scrap metal was scattered everywhere, rusting away on the ground, abandoned. The city looked a lot like a graveyard, strewn about pipes and junk. There were always things to salvage from it, if you were willing to face the rusted heaps of shards of metal.

Ash and soot lined the streets from factories. Steam was an ever-persistent companion from the factories that lined the river, which itself held all sorts of junk and pollution.

Looking at the city from such a negative viewpoint was not something commonly done by the residents of the city. Instead, they focused on the good things about the city, the beautiful skyline that came from being built on a river, the always-helpful androids that wandered the streets and took care of taverns and shops. The city was big and moving constantly, and everyone who lived there since birth knew of everything about it. They knew where to walk at night and where not to, who you nodded your head at and who you ran away from. The children knew who would give you an extra piece of bread at the bakery and who would shoo you away with a broom. Adults knew who you did not speak to and who you gave whatever they wanted.

And of course everyone knew the most important thing about the city; it was a city where loose lips sank ships- and got you killed.

_Injection needles stuck into a yellow dartboard,_

_A sewn hand on home base_

Lucky Diamond was someone in the city who you gave whatever he wanted, and he knew it.

He was a young man with salt-and-pepper hair, and red eyes. He smirked for a moment as he looked out the room's only window, a small square that you'd expect to see on a prison cell. It showed the electric towers that surrounded the baseball field, barbed-wire fencing needed to keep street kids from playing all hours.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, glancing about his workplace. It was a dank place lined with shadows that seemed to swallow you the minute you walked in. It was crammed with tired-looking leather furniture, antique wood desks and shelves. Filling every available space was some sort of knick-knack ranging from conversation pieces to silent warnings. The entire place reeked of smoke and something sweet.

Lucky opened one of the drawers of his desk and removed syringes. In a lazy fashion, he picked one up and, with the flick of a wrist, sent it flying to a mustard-colored dartboard. It hit the top-right area and imbedded itself into the material. The dartboard itself was another one of the many oddities in the room. Its green lines that indicated point values were shaped in a diamond, and there was a small doll's hand, wrapped in thread, sewn to the bottom of the diamond.

He threw another that hit very close to the oddly-shaped middle. There was a knock on the door that seemed ominous in the dark room. He stopped and waited, leaning back in his chair once again. He cleared his throat, and a person entered

_If you find yourself troubled, call for them,_

_On the field enclosed by electric towers_

A young boy entered, shuffling his feet nervously, his blue eyes downcast.

"Do you have payment?" The young boy shifted at these words, unconsciously reaching up and running his fingers through his blonde hair. He slowly shook his head, still staring at the ground.

"That's too bad. We're always sorry to lose clients." The boy looked up, eyes wide. He slowly started shaking his head. The boy started to apologize, it coming out in a heap of gibberish, promises to pay and apologies of not buying. He stumbled backwards, tripping through the door and hitting the wall of the hallway. Lucky smirked at the boy's terrified expression, and two androids started towards the boy, appearing in the hallway. Their bronze metal bodies gleamed dully as the artificial light hit them.

The boy ran down the long hallway and shot out of the building, running the narrow path between the fence and the brick building. Lucky was able to observe triumphantly from his window as the two androids followed in pursuit.

Gasping, the boy does the only thing he can, his voice rising to a shriek.

"Help! Someone! Oh, damn it, please! Please!"

_A black-and-white hero of unclear morals,_

_A metal bat in their left hand_

"Here."

The boy turns his head to where an exceptionally calm voice rang out. He saw the same face he'd seen in the newspaper lining the street, except that was a drawing by a sketch artist. This was flesh. This was her.

The sketch artist had done a very good job showing her profile. She had shorter, wavier hair in a reverse bob, dyed lime green. She had used face paint to paint her face entirely white, and had circles under her eyes and a marking on her nose, rendering her appearance similar to a panda's. She pulled on the wire fence to reveal a gap just wide enough for a child to wiggle through. The boy wiggled through with some difficulty, and she grabbed his hand and ran, pulling him along.

"This way." She said, and he followed her to the baseball field. She ran into the dugout and darted out, a metal bat glinting in the sun in her left hand. She tossed a wooden one to the boy and said conversationally:

"So, what's your name?"

"Len. Are you… the girl everyone's talking about?"

She didn't reply, her eyes trained on the androids making their way towards the pair. She tilted her head to the side, and said:

"Well, Len, I really do hope you can swing a baseball bat as well as you can run from your supplier." Len flinched and nodded. The androids came into range, and without hesitation she swung a bat at its "neck", the display screen on its "face" shattering. She hit it again, and the android fell to the ground, useless. Len followed suit and soon disabled the other one. The strange girl then leaned down and opened its chest cavity.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting its personality chip."

"Why?"

She didn't reply to this either, instead moving to the other and doing the same. She then slipped them both into her pocket.

Now not in danger of being killed by the androids of a drug dealer, Len was able to look at this girl closely. She was wearing pink contacts, he now realized. She also wore an orange tank-top and olive-green cargo shorts with plenty of pockets. Solid lime-green canvas sneakers and orange-and-white striped socks encased her feet. She wore an orange baseball cap with red-orange goggles strapped into place on them. She looked very much like every other girl in the city, if you took away the panda face. He them smiled at her.

"Thanks for saving me. You're pretty cool." He held out his hand. The girl looked at him, not taking it. She glared, and she said condescendingly, "I wouldn't have had to, if you been an addict." Len gulped, looking away and blinking. His hand fell. Turning on her heel, the girl started to walk away.

"Wait! You never told me… your name!" He said, calling after her. She paused and tilted her head, as if to let him know she was listening. Gulping again, he asked, "Are you the Panda Hero?"

She turned and nodded, staring at him. He then asked what had been bugging him.

"Why did you save me, if you knew… that I did that?" She sighed and told him,

"Your sister knew you were trying, and she found me. That's all." He nodded. She turned again and left, and Len ran home, knowing he had the best luck in the city- and the best sister- to have made it out of Lucky Diamond's lair with his life and a hero.

X

In his office, "Lucky" Dell Diamond picked up his phone, dialing a number.

"There's been a problem." He said, his voice booming in the silent office.

X

Megpoid Megumi slipped into the abandoned apartment complex just as night fell. She sighed as fell into her bed, setting the baseball bat to lean against a crate that served as her nightstand. She collapsed into the bed, kicking off her shoes and sorely wishing she had enough energy to go back and swipe something from her icebox. She didn't think of the day's events, and as she drifted to sleep, she doubted she thought anything at all.

X

Did you love it? Did you have it? Is there a grammatical error bugging you? Don't you want to let this author have a piece of your mind? Then review!


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: YAY I finally updated after over a week! I really am so sorry, but I got hit by plot bunnies something fierce, and it was hard to write down one idea without wanting to continue it D: ._  
_And WOW. WOW. I am so happy to see all of the people who've read so far! Thanks to all you readers in The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Romania, Australia, Mexico and Sweden, and an even bigger thanks to those who reviewed, __**Radioactive Tiger**__, __**japaneserockergirl**__, __**Michie Fang**__ and __**CandyPsychologist**__! Thanks for all the favorite stories, those who subscribed for an alert and those who marked me as a favorite author (you two, you know who you are, you made my heart skip a beat. All my feels :') ) You are all the reason I enslave myself to writing, and I thank you for it._  
_As always, and to my overbearing disappointment, I do not own the Vocaloids (nor do I own the Kittyloids, UTAUs... or anything), I am not Hatchi and therefor did not write this song, and I do not claim to/suffer the delusions of owning/being these things. Thanks so much!_  
_Enjoy the chapter!_

X

_The dog-radio spits out only noise_

Muffled traffic noises drifted in from the boarded-up window, as well as the sounds of kids playing and dogs barking. The hustle from the city blurred together in a sort of jumble that created its own lullaby. Out on the street, sunrise was breaking. The smell of burnt cinnamon hung in the air from a bakery. The shouts of kids playing slowly inclined in volume. A sort of dog-day serenity kept the air still and warm, like a sleepy summer day should. All was serene, and-

**BRAYK-VWEEP! BRAYK-VWEEP! BRAYK-VWEEP! BRAY-**

An arm quickly shot out of a bundle of blankets on the bed to smack a button on the top of a radio-alarm-clock combo, turning off the alarm. A groan was emitted from the bed, and the girl rolled off the edge of the bed and fell to the floor, not moving for several long seconds. Finally pushing herself off the ground, she looked around her at her "apartment". She was in an abandoned warehouse that no one would go near for rumors of it being haunted (even demolition-ists and scavengers were too frightened to go near the place). It had been an android factory. Hearing this, Gumi had rolled her eyes and gone in, quickly finding the android that had not been completely deactivated when the company went bankrupt.

This particular room had been an old storage room. Crates and boxes were piled high on the wall to the immediate left of the door. The room was twenty paces long by twenty paces wide. When entering the door, your attention is drawn to the old air mattress piled with blankets to the back-right of the room. Boxes take up almost half of the room, rows upon rows of them to your left. Near the bed is a crate serving a nightstand, and a heavy-duty canvas backpack and box reside on the opposite side of the bed. There are boarded-up windows as well on the wall where the bed is stationed, three in total. A table sits in the center-left-back of the room, papers strewn all over it. Finally, there's an old icebox machine to the immediate right of the door when you walk in.

Megumi stood and sighed, stretching her back by bending backwards until a sickening _pop _was heard. She hit a button on the radio (which was, notably, designed for a child, with a popular children's dog-detective character on it). She shifted it to the news and made about getting dressed as it hummed out what had happened while she'd clocked out.

The usual depressing stories drifted, lined with static. A robbery of a family jeweler shop that had fallen on harder times, a body found in an ally, a fire destroying a house. She sighed and turned it off, unable to listen to it. She then cheered up and walked over to the icebox, pulling out some leftover Chinese take-out. She put on a pair of purple slippers hidden from view the crate and shuffled out the hallway and down the service stairs, to the back door of the house. She opened the door quickly and scooped up newspaper lying there delivered by a friendly newsboy who knew she was there. She turned and closed the door again, re-locking the bolt. Gumi quickly ran back up the narrow, ugly and crooked wooden steps.

She burst back into her room, striding over to the table, setting down the white carton of food. Plopping happily into the worn wooden stool, she spread out the paper and hungrily ate with a pair of chopsticks while reading. After noticing nothing unusual happening (and nothing funny in the comics), she was about to turn her attention to a set of complex-looking blueprints when the date caught her eye. "_Monday, August 2__nd,"_the text read.

"Oh… naughty words!" Gumi cried, glancing frantically from her clock to the newspaper. "I have to be at work at nine!" The clock laughed at her, reading 8:20 in smug red analog typeface. She hit the bathroom running, barely refraining from cursing while she took a shower.

At eight fifty she left her house running. She barely had enough time to grab her bag and hairband to hold back her damp, wavy hair; she ran out of the abandoned complex without bothering to lock the door, wearing a hastily-thrown together assemble, a blue cartoon shirt and green cotton sorts with fresh, striped-green socks. She weaved through the streets hurriedly, bobbing and weaving between stark contrasts of people. She dodged a busy-looking man in a professional suit and dodged a small child running with her mother in tow. Finally, Gumi reached a small corner-shop building. Searching furiously in her bag, she pulled out a key and unlocked the glass door, slipping into a small coffee shop-café-diner hybrid known as. She flipped the sign to **_Open _**and ran behind the counter, barely breathing before diving behind the counter, pulling a apron from her back-pack before stuffing it out of sight.

"Cutting it close, Miss Naloxone." A patronizing voice rang, and Gumi gritted her teeth inwardly, not finding any mirth in her chosen alias that morning*. She glanced at the clock that told her she was not late, even if it was only by twenty seconds. She really, _really_ hated her boss… but so did everyone. She nodded and glared at his retreating back as he left the shop, doubtless to go gamble away the money she made him. Gumi balled her fists before breathing, letting her resent go. She then snapped on her nametag and waited for people to filter in and out. She chatted up a few regular customers. She heard no useful or interesting gossip from anyone, and was left each time waiting impatiently for dusk to fall so that she could go back to her apartment complex and sleep.

_A flickering neon bunny girl_

Five horrible tippers, four kids begging her for candy, three people trying to skip on their bill, two broken up fights and one sleazebag flirting with her later, Gumi was free. The streetlamps flickered on as she walked back home, stuffing her things into her bag. She heard the far-off laughter of kids running home. A chorus of city cicadas buzzed in her ears, and she nearly swooned when she smelled a steak cooking as she passed a popular restaurant. On the opposite side of the street, something caught her eye. Turning down an ally, a young woman with long pink hair seemed nervous as she walked, looking around her in a way that would be paranoia in any other setting; but Poppinine was not a safe place, especially for an unaccompanied woman after dark. What really set of warning bells, however, was the man in a black hoodie that was on her tail.

Silently cursing, Gumi ducked to the ally and swiftly climbed a fire escape on the right of the ally. She was probably being silly… or, judging by the way the man seemed to speed up at the sight of the woman, maybe not. Indeed, the woman barely had time to shriek when she realized she was being tailed before the man covered her mouth. Panic flashed in her eyes, and the man grinned before Gumi grabbed the first thing from her bag, took aim, and threw her makeshift weapon.

"Ugh…" He groaned (to Gumi's immense satisfaction), stumbling backwards before turning and half-running, half-tripping away.

X

Luka Megurine stood from where she'd fallen, looking up to see the person who'd thrown a… was that a book? Warily, she picked it up, its pages all crumpled from its heroic flight. Turning her gaze back to the figure standing on the fire escape, she watched as it timidly made her way back down, started when she realized it wasn't a man or even an adult.

A small girl stood in front of her, her gaze fixed on the ground as she reached for her book. Stunned, Luka stood there, unable to break the silence. The girl seemed to have no similar trouble.

"May I have my book back?" She asked, an impatient note in her tired voice. Startled, it took the her a moment to process.

"Oh!" She said, handing the book to the green-haired girl. Fumbling with her words, she said; "Um, how did you guess… I mean, you knew… I mean…" She trailed off, the full scale of her luck sinking in.

"You wish to ask me if I always spend my time sitting on fire escapes, throwing books at potential muggers? No, I don't, I was just the only one around."

Luka nodded, breathing heavily. At this, the girl seemed to notice she was disturbed by almost being robbed or worse. She paused for a moment, then offered her the only thing she could.

"Um… miss? Do you… need an escort home? You look pretty shaken…" Luka nodded, tears pooling in her eyes as she allowed herself to be helped home by this strange girl.

X  
_ 'Well… this sucks.'_

Gumi cursed herself for her over-politeness. She was barely able to coax an address out of the woman, she looked so shocked. Not only that, she grabbed onto her arm like she was the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

They finally arrived at the woman's apartment complex, and they made it up the stairs and to her room. Immediately, they were greeted by a girl. She looked a lot like the woman (who revealed her name to be Luka); she had long pink hair she's tied back in a ponytail. She had amber-colored eyes and gigantic red bows decorated her hair, one right on top of her head and the other holding her ponytail mid-back. She immediately hugged the woman, crying out in relief.

"Big sis!" she cried out, relieved. She then drew back and looked at Gumi with wide, curious eyes. She looked at Luka for some sort of clue. "Big sis?" She asked, obviously confused.

"Iroha, this is…" Luka trailed off, obviously at a loss as to what to say.

"I'm Gumi." Gumi said, kneeling down to meet the girl at eye-level, offering her hand to shake. The girl, who she judged to be around seven, warily took it, then grinned and started off on a string of questions.

"Do you like cats?" Startled, she replied,

"I… I suppose so?"

"Do you know how to play baseball?"

"Um, yes, I do-"

"That's so great! We need a new player on our team, 'cause Ollie said he's going to visit his grandma for a week, and we need a player. Hey, are you sleeping over? 'Cause it's dark out. I can take you to the field tomorrow! And-"

"Iroha! Take a breath before you pass out on the floor." Iroha complied, grinning sheepishly at Luka.

Concerned, Luka looked out the window. "Nonetheless, it is getting dark… you could stay over, I suppose…" Gumi rose, startled, and blurted out, "I'm fine! I can get home from here. It's actually not that far. I'll be fine."

Luka looked the tiniest bit relieved, in contrast to Iroha's saddened expression. "But… can you come to the field tomorrow? Please?" She nearly begged, looking up at Gumi.

_'No… no… not the puppy face… Dammit Gumi, you're stronger than this…'_

"… Sure." She said, breaking at the girl's hopeful stare. She grinned and said, "Great!" Luka said something about going to bed, which made her rush out of the room, doubtlessly excited for tomorrow.

"Um…" Gumi said, slowly backing out of the doorway.

"You'll really go tomorrow?" Luka asked, seemingly confused.

"Why not?" She replied, suddenly so tired she'd promise her baseball bat if someone said she could go to sleep.

"Well… could you look after her? She plays with a lot of kids older than her. She's nine… but she's still just a kid."

Gumi nodded, bid her farewell, and miraculously made it out of the complex, walking the four blocks to the warehouse, getting in, trudging up the service stairs and opening the door to her room without her conscious processing what was happening. She collapsed into her bed, confused and tired, unable to process all that had happened before falling asleep.

Four blocks away, Luka Megurine did the exact same thing.

X

Please don't kill me for making Iroha a child and a sister to Luka!

Note: Naloxone= a drug created to reverse the affects of opium overdose. I thought it was something she'd choose for her own silent amusement (I certainly would :P)  
Please, oh please, review! I'm always happy to hear your feedback. Even if you hated it, tell me how to make it better! Your feedback means the world to me! Thank you!

~TheFourthAlice


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